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Greek finance minister says euro zone needs common debt market

Credit: Reuters/Yorgos Karahalis ATHENS | Fri Aug 9, 2013 7:39am BST ATHENS (Reuters) – The euro zone needs a common debt market to exit the crisis, Greece’s finance minister Yannis Stournaras said on Friday. “The euro zone must deal with its main problems,” Stournaras said. “A banking union… an economic policy which combines fiscal consolidation and growth, not all countries can impose austerity … and the most important: a common debt market, but this probably at the end.” Stournaras added that Greece, which is in its sixth year of recession, needs a primary budget surplus and growth before it returns to the bond markets.

Polish Premier Mulls Dismissing Finance Minister, RMF Reports

Frances gross domestic product shrank by 0.2 percent for the past two quarters the technical definition for a recession and data for the second quarter of the year wont be published until Aug. 14. But Pierre Moscovici told Corse Matin newspaper in an interview published Saturday that the recession is over, without revealing the second-quarter figures. More business news

The dismissal would be a done deal if Tusk had a good candidate to replace Rostowski, the radio said on its website , citing a politician it didnt name from the ruling Civic Platform party. The government doesnt comment on press speculation, Konrad Niklewicz, a spokesman for Tusk, said by phone from Warsaw. Tusks party has fallen behind the opposition Law and Justice in opinion polls as the government struggles to revive the economy, which is set to growth at the slowest pace since the 1990s this year. Rostowski last month announced plans to widen this years budget deficit and suspend rules limiting fiscal stimulus to aid recovery. The cabinet is also working to overhaul the countrys privately-managed pension funds to reduce public debt.

The use of eminent domain powers to restructure distressed mortgages has been debated by communities for more than a year and has been controversial with Wall Street banks and bond investors from the start. Alfred Pollard, FHFA’s general counsel, said in a memorandum posted on the agency’s website on Thursday that the uncertainty surrounding the use of eminent domain raises several issues, including its possible impact on the mortgage market and potential losses that Fannie Mae and Freddie Ma could incur. “There is a rational basis to conclude that the use of eminent domain by localities to restructure loans for borrowers that are “underwater” on their mortgages presents a clear threat to the safe and sound operations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks as provided in federal law,” Pollard wrote. The FHFA is weighing its legal options in any municipalities that approve loan restructuring programs. The agency is also considering preventing Fannie and Freddie from purchasing loans in those communities using eminent domain as a strategy for restructuring distressed mortgages.